Re:Oakland shows how to expand housing supply: tell develope...
by btilly on Monday December 02, 2019 @02:18PM
(#21685785)
The whole topic of conversation around housing affordability is backwards. Specifically, housing affordability is 100%, entirely, a problem of artificial constraints on supply by city councils
This is literally economics 101. Supply and demand curves.
Anything that decreases supply, increases price. Anything that makes some of that supply available cheaply, increases price for the rest. Anything that increases development risk or reduces the profit available to landlords, decreases supply and therefore increases price.
In short, drives for affordable housing mandates help cause the very problem that they intend to solve.
If you want to actually improve affordable housing, build a shit ton of housing. And built it close to where people work. This will reduce prices, reduce congestion, and reduce commutes. Everyone winds up better off.
And yes, the solution needs to be built in YOUR backyard. If you whine about that and whine about the problem, you're either willfully blind to facts, or a hypocrite. Get over it.
This is literally economics 101. Supply and demand curves.
Anything that decreases supply, increases price. Anything that makes some of that supply available cheaply, increases price for the rest. Anything that increases development risk or reduces the profit available to landlords, decreases supply and therefore increases price.
In short, drives for affordable housing mandates help cause the very problem that they intend to solve.
If you want to actually improve affordable housing, build a shit ton of housing. And built it close to where people work. This will reduce prices, reduce congestion, and reduce commutes. Everyone winds up better off.
And yes, the solution needs to be built in YOUR backyard. If you whine about that and whine about the problem, you're either willfully blind to facts, or a hypocrite. Get over it.